Since his time as a senator, Marco Rubio has launched various criticisms against AMLO, accusing him of supporting dictatorships and allowing the spread of organized crime in Mexico.
With the visit of Marco Rubio, the United States Secretary of State, to President Claudia Sheinbaum, questions arise about the bilateral relationship, considering the US official’s previous positions.
Before serving as Secretary of State, Rubio was a senator in the United States and, on several occasions, criticized the Mexican government, then headed by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, mainly for its support for the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
One example was the controversy surrounding the former Mexican president’s absence from the 2022 Summit of the Americas. At the time, López Obrador justified his decision by arguing that the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua were not invited.
The former president’s decision was not well received by Rubio, who celebrated his absence on social media, where he accused him of handing over sections of the country to drug cartels.
Happy to see that the Mexican President who has turned entire sections of his country over to drug cartels and is an apologist for a tyranny in Cuba,a murderous dictator in Nicaragua and a narco-trafficker in Venezuela won’t be in America this weekhttps://t.co/7ubKUI4G1Q
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 7, 2022
“I am glad to see that the Mexican president, who has handed over entire sections of his country to drug cartels and is an apologist for tyranny in Cuba, a murderous dictator in Nicaragua, and a drug trafficker in Venezuela, will not be in the United States this week,” Marco Rubio wrote on his X account in 2022.
This comment did nothing to improve relations, and López Obrador responded by challenging Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz to provide evidence for their accusations. He also pointed out that Cruz received funds from organizations that support arms manufacturing in the United States.
This was not the only criticism Marco Rubio directed at López Obrador. In 2023, he also accused him of failing to “use force” to confront organized crime groups, which, he claimed, allowed some regions to fall under the control of those criminal groups.
As President @lopezobrador has made it clear he will not use force to take on narco-terrorists groups in #Mexico
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 8, 2023
And the tragic but predictable result is that organized criminal groups,not the government,now control large portions of a great & important country
“As president, López Obrador has made it clear that he will not use force to confront narco-terrorist groups in Mexico. The tragic result is that organized criminal groups, not the government, now control large portions of an important country,” Marco Rubio wrote on X om 2023.
Furthermore, that same year he gave an interview to Telemundo, in which he stated that Mexico is an important partner for the United States, but former President López Obrador was a leader “who unfortunately dedicates himself to spewing nonsense and interfering in American politics.”
It should be remembered that since 2019, during Donald Trump’s first administration, allegations began to surface about alleged links between Mexican cartels and the Venezuelan government for drug trafficking to the United States. Rubio was one of the main promoters of that narrative.
“The Maduro regime and the cartels in Mexico are business partners: Maduro helps them transport drugs from Venezuela to Central America to cross the border into the United States. He helps ships transport drugs to the Dominican Republic to smuggle them to the eastern US,” Rubio charged.
Source: El Financiero
